By choosing to post the reply below you agree to the rules you agreed to when joining Sailnet.
Click Here to view those rules.

Message:

Trackback:

Send Trackbacks to (Separate multiple URLs with spaces) :

Post Icons

You may choose an icon for your message from the following list:

No icon

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the SailNet Community forums, you must first register. Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.Please note: After entering 3 characters a list of Usernames already in use will appear and the list will disappear once a valid Username is entered.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Click here to view the posting rules you are bound to when clicking the'Submit Reply' button below

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Automatically retrieve titles from external links

Click here to view the posting rules you are bound to when clicking the'Submit Reply' button below

Topic Review (Newest First)

01-15-2009 11:54 AM

funjohnson

May I ask a mooring question?

I currently sail a Hunter 240 and have it on a permanent mooring. I was looking at getting new pennants (2) and was wondering if catenary length matters from the boat's cleat to the mooring ball? Typically, with a 24' boat would I need 15', 20' or 25' feet length? Does it matter? I have room to swing, but do not want it to wander too much.

01-14-2009 12:20 PM

ckgreenman

Quote:

Originally Posted by xort

Cruising Solutions headsets work fantastic. We used to have "loud conversations" on our 26'. Now all is calm on our 42'; well, calm while anchoring anyway.

Well we haven't tried to anchor anything of size but on our 20ft power boat, my wife and I have it down to a science.

I like the idea of the headsets though.

01-14-2009 11:27 AM

scottbr

Can't say as we've had any "loud conversations" I / we agreed right at the beginning that we were going to make mistakes as we were both learning, and would not yell. For the most part we drop and pull up the anchor without saying a word and do it all by hand signals..... and not the single digit signal either

01-14-2009 07:37 AM

xort

Cruising Solutions headsets work fantastic. We used to have "loud conversations" on our 26'. Now all is calm on our 42'; well, calm while anchoring anyway.

01-14-2009 12:24 AM

camaraderie

That's how my wife gave me the nickname "Old Yeller"!!

01-13-2009 11:01 PM

hardalee22

This may have been mentioned already, but here is the most important aspect of anchoring.

We enter the harbor with my wife at the helm and me on the bow. She picks a spot. I tell her that is a terrible spot. She yells at me. We then move to another area, usually close to another boat with a few people in the cockpit.

We continue to argue about where to anchor.

Finally we agree and I lower the anchor. Something bad happens. Might be that she backs up too fast or I don't lower the anchor fast enough...

Eventually we're hooked and all is good.

Just kidding. We've managed to get pretty good at the anchoring but we've put on some shows in the past.

I still love sitting with a beer in the cockpit and watching greenhorns put on a show. Is winter almost over...

01-13-2009 02:38 PM

RAGTIMEDON

suggestion---

Just a suggestion -- to make the calculations easy, why not start the measured markings on your rode from a point 7 times the distance from bow chock to water, or if your depth sounder is uncorrected, 7 times the distance from depth sounder to bow chock? On Ragtime, my nylon is marked as 10 feet only four feet from the top end of the 30 foot chain. My wife (helmsman) reads the water depth from the instrument, and I multiply that number by 5. Simple, huh? We use 5-1 scope because trees on the river's edge prevent us from having winds as high as those on the seacoast. Only time we ever see winds of 40+ is during a tornado, and there is adequate warning for those, so that we stay on the dock! When we leave here to become wanderers (read when my 401k recovers) I will take your advice and re-mark it to start measuring 7X that distance and use 7X the depth reading for added scope.
BTW - I never dive to check my anchor set. In the Mississippi i can't see it at a distance greater than three inches!
On another point -- having spent a lot of time on the Mississippi, DON'T BUY A RIVER ANCHOR! The shape of them precludes a good set in anything but Jello. They are made for fishermen, who are awake, casting or watching a bobber. Go below for lunch and you will drift! You are better off with a couple bricks on a clothesline. In the sand or mud here, a Danforth or Fortress seem to work best. Now and then we run into a bed of clams, where you need a plow type. I just move 50 feet, and avoid the clams.
Next subject -- Let the boat do the work when you pull up the anchor. You really must have a good cleat on the bow, so cleat off the anchor when you reach 1-1 scope and if inertia won't break it loose, the engine will. And that cleat is for anchoring - don't ever leave your anchor rode attached only to the windlass overnight; cleat it! I have seen the bolts holding the windlass to the deck sheared off in a storm. A good cleat will have heavier bolts, a good backing plate, and a mounting such that the stress on the cleat is at a better angle than you will ever achieve on a windlass. My bow cleats are about a foot long, 2-1/2 inches high, and nearly an inch in thickness. It is foolish to depend on the chain/rope gypsy to hold up to a night of constant motion.

01-12-2009 04:59 PM

sailingdog

Actually, between the four of you, you have enough hulls for two boats, like the monstrosity Chuckles has.... and enough lead to make bullets to repel the pirates you'll run into cruising.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckgreenman

See it's like this, I don't have a SAILboat so in SD's eyes I don't exist. Hell, I'm surprised anyoen with less than 3 hulls exists either

01-12-2009 04:59 PM

ckgreenman

Yay!!! I EXIST!!!

01-12-2009 04:58 PM

sailingdog

Corrected as requested.

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigtoo

Not for nuthin'

But you forgot CK.... Please correct your post.

This thread has more than 10 replies.
Click here to review the whole thread.